Son of the Moon

Chapter 27

-Percy-

As the sun began setting he climbed out of his Viper, wiping his eyes and hoped that they weren't too bloodshot but he could tell from the piercing look Zoe gave him that she knew he had been crying and would be talking to him about it later. Shaking his head he waited for the train to stop before climbing off when the train ground to a halt, just as the sun set in the sky, the rest of the questers quickly following his lead before the train seemed to vanish into the night along with the tracks. Turning to the west he gazed at the looming mountains of metal that lay before him, the entrance to the junkyard of the gods, "We'll camp here for the night," he decided "press on in the morning when we have light to see through the junkyard.".

"What is this place Percy?" Castor asked nervously "It can't be a regular junkyard. It feels…off for some reason.".

"It's the junkyard of the gods," he explained "scrapped ideas, lost weapons, cursed objects, anything the gods no longer wanted or needed was thrown away in here, most of it are simply old little projects of Hephaestus.".

"It also houses many cursed items," Zoe added as she brought out a sleeping roll "so be caution when traversing it.". With that cheerful thought he began collecting boards from a nearby abandoned building to build a fire and take first watch, his fellow quest mates falling asleep as he gazed around the mountainous piles of metal.

"Hello Percy," a voice said to his right as he turned, having sensed the god flash in next to him "it was a wise choice to wait for daylight to go through my junkyard.".

"I didn't want to risk snagging something in the dark or stumbling across a cursed weapon and end up offending you Lord Hephaestus," he said humbly to one of his patrons "I know how…protective you can be of the yard.".

"Protective yes but not at the cost of the life of those dear to me," Hephaestus growled, the smith gods eyes burning like the fires of the forges the being worked "your mother is my Sister Percy, and while I may not be as close to her as Apollo is I still care for her and will do whatever I can to protect and rescue her. Added to that you are my champion. But more than that you are a good man… and I plan to help this quest in the only way I can without breaking the laws.".

"What do you mean?" he asked confused, not realizing what Hephaestus was trying to tell him.

"I've already removed the cursed objects from my yard," Hephaestus said, the god's eyes staring off into the distance of the mountainous piles of discarded objects "and as for the rest…anything you or the questers find that you feel you need and even just a few items you see and may want…take them. Take them with my blessing and bring my sister home.".

"I will Uncle," he promised firmly "I'll rescue them, all of them, and I will make those bastards who took them pay for what they've done.".

"I have one last thing I can tell you before I have to return to Olympus," his Uncle said seriously "I know about the Sparti chasing you and, while they may be a good ways off thanks to the train you took, they will eventually catch up with you. I know there are some Stygian Iron weapons in the yard somewhere so find one, find one and kill those abominations.".

At that statement he gave his Uncle a dark grin, "Gladly Uncle, gladly.".

Partway through the night his shift ended as he let Castor and Katie take over, the two wanting to shift together to be able to have some time alone, or as alone as they could get on a quest, before he went to sleep, eventually being woken up by Zoe who had taken the final shift, his sister staying up longer as she didn't want Thalia to be the only one awake and around his unconscious body….a sentiment he was very grateful for.

"Alright," he said as they packed up their meager campsite "Lord Hephaestus visited me last night and told me that all the cursed objects in the yard have been removed and we can take anything we might need from the yard as well as some objects that we may just want that don't have to do with the quest.".

"Truly?" Zoe asked in shock "I thought the Lord of the Forges was protective of the Junkyard, and would kill anyone who removed anything from it.".

"He cares about his sister more than some items discarded by the gods," he said coldly, his anger rising at the thought of his kidnapped mother, brother, and love "he told me to do whatever it takes to rescue them.".

"Then let's go," Zoe said, nodding firmly "We'll split up to find as many useful objects as possible and meet up at the far end.".

Nodding they all went their separate paths down Yard, only Castor and Katie staying together as he had made sure to avoid Thalia when she tried to join him so he could be alone.

As he weaved and walked around the mountains of metal he took in what lay around him, the broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, piles of weapons and armor that lay in various states. Realizing that many of these things could help the rest of the camp he pulled out a spare bottomless duffle bag Beckendorf had given him and loaded up all the weapons and armor he could find that were still in good condition.

But while he planned to have Hermes deliver the bag of weapons back to camp after leaving the Junkyard there were a few items he found throughout his search that he decided to keep with him. The first item he found that caught his eye was an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's Lyre that was too eye drawing to leave as he wondered if his Uncle could teach him how to play it. Along his search he had also found several chests full of gold, silver, and jewels that he placed in his main bottomless bag, having plans on how to use the wealth later, and grateful for the gift his Uncle was giving him. Among the weapons that he collected he had even managed to find a set of Stygian Iron throwing knives that he quickly attached to his belt to kill the Sparti when they inevitably caught up with them, and a kanabo that, to his shock, was studded with Celestial bronze, divine silver, imperial gold, stygian iron, and eve mortal steel as the deadly club seemed to thrum with the various metals imbued within it. The moment he picked up the fearsome weapon it glowed before becoming a simple rod that he slipped into his pocket for later.

The item he found that he treasured the most though was a single ring, it was beautiful in its craftsmanship, made of the purest silver he had ever seen and was set with a black diamond that looked like the night sky with the flecking's of star like motes of silver inside the gem. He had quickly taken the ring and slipped it into his bag, planning on giving it to Bianca when he rescued her, a way to show her fully that he was committed to her in every way possible, a promise for a future together.

After taking a deep breath to steady himself he had set back out, continuing to grab as many useful weapons as he could find.

-Zoe-

Sighing the Daughter of Atlas began wandering around the Junkyard of the gods, making towards the opposite end where they had agreed to meet up after looking for anything useful. While she knew it would be foolish to not at least keep an eye out for anything useful around her she wasn't too focused on finding some rare treasure or weapon, her mind dedicated to worrying about her brother and the tears she knew he had shed yesterday while she slept on the train.

She wasn't sure what had happened but she knew she could at least venture a guess as she also took in the bloodshot eyes of the Daughter of Zeus, the pained looks that she would send her brother, and the determined hunger that shone from the girl's eyes.

Like all of the hunt she had seen Bianca's memories of what had happened from the moment of Thalia's release to the moment Lady Artemis had questioned the daughter of Hades about what had happened. How the daughter of Zeus was falling dangerously in love with her younger brother who simply didn't return those feelings.

She was sure that Thalia had confronted her brother last night to try and 'admit' her feelings for Percy, tried to win her brother over…just as she knew that it hadn't worked. She knew how much rejecting his friend would have hurt Percy just as she knew that the rejection, having to state why he was rejecting Thalia, would help him begin to heal the heartache he had felt.

So she wandered, lost in thought about how to not only help her brother but save her Mistress who had become like a mother to her, to save the girl that her brother loved with every fiber of his being, and to save the boy who Percy saw as a brother.

She did find some items she had decided to take during her wanderings, a hunter's bow that could become a hairclip she recognized as a project a daughter of Hephaestus had once worked on a few decades ago. She found a whip made of barbed silver pieces that turned into a bracelet which she quickly put on. The final item she found was a mostly intact silver horse automaton that she had Hermes take back to the camp so Beckendorf could fix it up as a surprise gift for her little brother.

Going back to her musings she resumed her wandering path through the junkyard of the gods.

-Castor-

It was a calm son of Dionysus that walked through the mountains of scrap, a beautiful daughter of Demeter on his arm as they idly perused the discarded objects, finding a few things they decided to keep but mostly just enjoying the presence of the other, stealing a kiss here and there, a furtive glance or touch.

It was calming to him just to be around the woman he had loved secretly for years, her very presence pushing away the faint cloud of madness that all children of Dionysus felt, the cloud that could consume them if they weren't careful. They knew they would need more weapons to get through the quest so they selected a pair of fitting weapons for each of them, finding a two pairs of celestial bronze sickles among the scrap as they each strapped a pair to their backs (AN: think of the sickles the Bessie wielded in the Dwayne the Rock Johnson Hercules movie) but they also found items for their siblings. He finding a Thyrsus made of petrified wood for his brother Pollux and Katie finding a small plant box that could change itself to any climate for you younger sister Miranda Gardener. The last thing they had found before they simply stopped looking was a box full of journals that could record the entries you wanted just by you thinking. After finding the journals they were too busy with each other to focus on looking through the mounds of scrap.

-Thalia-

Furiously the daughter of Zeus made her way through the mounds of Scrap in the junkyard, looking for anything that could make her stronger, strong enough to win the heart of the man she loved, her eyes taking in every detail of the metal objects around her.

The first item she came across was a crown that was made of gold, silver, and jewels but looked to have been split by an axe that she quickly pocketed, planning on restoring it to a pristine form and presenting it to the man she loved, her prince charming should have a crown, she reasoned.

The second item was a bow, a silver bow that when the string was pulled back could conjure arrows of divine silver all of which seemed to react well with her lightning before she remembered that silver was the most conductive metal for electricity, simply more proof in her mind that Percy belonged with her rather than the Hades spawn. She remembered how often Percy would watch Bianca shoot arrows, sliding behind her to correct her stance and she quickly strapped the bow to her back, determined to show Percy that she was the better archer and get him to hold her like that.

The third item she came across was a silver spear that had a barbed head, it seemed to thrum with power as she clutched it tightly, lighting dancing across her fingers as well as the metal as she gave the spear a thrust, causing a bolt of lightning to shoot from her new weapon and hit a bronze statue head, melting the metal and frying the sparking wires within it. Grinning she watched as the spear shifted until it was a ring that looked like a Spartan helmet that she slipped onto her left ring finger, a promise in her mind on how she would win Percy over and one day have a wedding band on there when she married the son of Artemis.

The final thing she found was a set of wolf-like black and silver armor that, once she touched it, seemed to melt until it became a silver wolf pendant and a pair of black and silver bracers on her forearms. Gleefully she called the armor back out and inspected it, the wolfs on the armor reminding her of Percy's pet wolf she had seen occasionally before she retracted the armor again, wanting to surprise Percy and make him realize how beautiful she looked with it on. (AN: The armor is the 'wolf armor' from Skyrim but black and silver).

Gleefully she resumed running through the junkyard, wanting to where they had all agreed to meet up so she could see her Percy again.